The invention relates to a method for phased separation of a sausage strand. The invention also relates to a separating element for phased separation of a sausage strand and to an assembly of a plurality of such separating elements.
In the production of sausages it frequently occurs that a sausage strand (manufactured for instance by means of an extrusion process from dough or a dough of vegetable material) must be divided into smaller segments (individual sausages). Such a sausage strand can be, although it does not necessarily have to be, provided with a casing, which can for instance also be manufactured by means of an extrusion process. For the division of the sausage strand into individual sausages frequent use is made of a wheel with a plurality of separating elements. A drawback of such a wheel is that the quality of the separated sausages is not always satisfactory. In the European patent 1 263 293 a method and apparatus is described for phased separation of a sausage strand. Use is made herein of two co-acting wheels between which the sausage strand for separating is first pressed together at the locations where it will later actually be separated. At the locations where it is pressed together, the sausage strand is then separated by means of the separating elements. A drawback of the art described in the European patent is that when the sausage strand is pressed together between two co-acting wheels the separated sausages are still not of optimal quality, and that the flexibility of such an apparatus is limited (different wheels have to be mounted for different sausage lengths). This lesser quality relates in particular to sausage ends which are not round (for instance “pillow-shaped”).